Neighbor.com

“the Airbnb of storage.”

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Neighbor.com is a peer-to-peer storage marketplace that connects people looking for space with those
who have it. Some are calling it “the Airbnb of storage.”

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People with extra space in their basement, garage, closet or RV pad can make thousands of dollars each year simply by posting their space on Neighbor’s website or mobile app. People in the neighborhood can store their stuff with people they trust for 50%, the cost of traditional self-storage. Neighbor’s safe and convenient platform is helping communities save money and come closer together.

THE FUTURE OF STORAGE

It might not seem like it, but Americans have a lot of things to store. Right now, 1 in 10 American households are leasing a storage unit. To meet that demand, there are more storage facilities than McDonald’s, Burger Kings, Wendy’s, Starbucks, Dominos, Dunkin Donuts, Walmarts, Home Depots and Costcos… combined! And most of those facilities are over 90% full. These are the numbers that fuel the behemoth $400 billion self storage market.

Unfortunately, these storage facilities are charging high prices and are increasingly unsafe, with 1 in 10 broken into each year. On top of that, industrial locations mean that renters have to drive 25-30 mins across town just to access their belongings.

Neighbor’s mission is to solve those problems. By creating storage with vetted community members and neighbors with unused space, Neighbor keeps costs down and keeps your things nearby. Not only do renters save time and money on a safer, just-right space that is backed by a $25,000 guarantee, but hosts make a whole lot of easy cash and are protected up to $2 million.

It’s the neighborly way.

OUR STORY

Preston Alder, one of the founders of Neighbor, recognized a need for alternatives to commercial self-storage when he and his wife were preparing to live internationally for several months to work with one of his clients and they had no place to store their belongings.

“Not only were all the units in our surrounding area completely full, but the ones that weren’t full were very expensive and unsafe. So we ended up storing our items in our neighbor’s garage and it was heaven-sent for us. It was very helpful to have a place to put it at a more affordable rate. I had this realization, ‘Why isn’t everyone doing this?”’ Alder said.

After sharing his experience with others, Preston realized he wasn’t the only one experiencing this problem. Preston, together with his friends Joseph Woodbury and Colton Gardner, founded Neighbor with the friendly mission to match people’s empty space to other people’s extra stuff.

Their hope was that in doing so, they would bring people and neighborhoods closer together too.

Neighbor’s growth has been meteoric. In early 2017, Neighbor launched its product and began servicing customers in Utah. Since then, Neighbor has expanded to have a national presence, with active users in all 50 states.

Renters and hosts aren’t the only ones who think that Neighbor is a great idea. Publications like the Wall Street Journal, Inc. Magazine, Forbes, CNBC, TechCrunch, Bloomberg, Penny Hoarder, Cheddar and Entrepreneur have shared Neighbor’s story in national headlines. During their early stage, Neighbor won grants from business competitions at BYU and the University of Utah. Neighbor was also proud to accept the Utah Governor’s prestigious Technology Commerce & Innovation grant, as well as the Utah Innovation Award. Recently, Neighbor was named a World Changing Idea by Fast Company.

As Neighbor.com looks to the future, they plan to continue to expand globally in hopes of empowering more everyday people to pay down their mortgages and contribute to their community. And through it all, Neighbor has one enduring message to people everywhere: Won’t you be our Neighbor?

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